Archive for September 2011
Cow Boxes For Computers?
You can’t help but smile when you see those spotted black and white “cow boxes”. Whether it be the product inside or the thought of square cows, these boxes represent where the founder of Gateway came from. Ted Waitt had big plans for his future. Starting out in 1985 in an Iowa farmhouse, with a 3 page business plan, a $10,000 loan with the help of his grandmother, and a rented computer he made his dreams a reality.
By 1993 Gateway was a successful computer company. It was a Fortune 500 company listed on the NASDAQ, and because of its growing success relocated to the New York Stock Exchange. Most of Gateways success came from being the first manufacturer to produce color monitors with a standard 3 year warranty, and the option to buy these products online. They also produced plasma televisions and digital displays, that were becoming very popular at this time.
Gateway expanded even more in 2004, when they purchased the eMachine company. This company was known for its “value” computers. These inexpensive computers made a great addition to Gateways product line. By combining products and keeping the same product names, it presented consumers with a large variety of products to choose from.
Being bought by Acer Inc in October of 2007, Gateway and eMachines became part of the 3rd largest PC producers in the world. Not bad for a small business that started out in an Iowa farmhouse with one mans visions. Just as Gateway did with eMachines, Acer Inc. kept all Gateways names on their products. These products included all their notebooks, desktops, displays, gaming devices, accessories, and consumer electronics, along with eMachines desktops and displays. Gateway notebooks have several different series to choose from. Some are designed for mobility, performance, or flexibility. They also deliver value desktop models, performance systems, and all-in-one units. The display line has many options ranging from basic to 30-inch Extreme HD widescreen models.
Gateway stores not only sell their products but because of the company merges they are able to sell many others. You might find Sansa MP3 players, Turbo Tax software, PC games, cell phones, PDA’s, digital cameras, video cameras, and Microsoft Xbox consoles at Gateway stores. Gateway may be gone from the Iowa farmhouse, but their success still lives on and those special boxes remind us where it all began.
Gateway SX2850-01 Desktop Review (Intel Core I3, 1TB)
I have been a fan of Gateway’s SX series for a long time now thanks to their excellent price-to-feature ratio and they always give great value for every penny spent. The Gateway SX2850-01 is another great desktop model from this series where it packs in some of the latest and most powerful specs possible for its price range.
The Gateway SX2850-01 comes with an Intel Core i3-540 (3.06Ghz), 4GB of DDR3 RAM (maximum 8GB) and a gigantic 1TB hard drive. This set of specs will prove to be more than enough for the average desktop user, whether you plan to use it for serious work or play. This model also comes with an Intel HD graphics card. Coupled with the Clear Video HD technology, it is perfect for playing HD content, gaming and graphic work. It also supports HD audio (5.1 channel).
The desktop runs on Windows 7 Home Premium and it also includes features like a 16x DVD drive, 802.11b/g/n wi-fi, 11 USB ports and a HDMI output. Plug in a HDTV and a good set of speakers and you will have yourself a mini home entertainment unit. The Gateway SX2850-01 is also a pretty good looker. It is a tower style desktop, with a sleek glossy front and a relatively compact size. It measures at 10.43 x 3.93 x 12.4 inches in dimensions. Overall, I like its subtle and quiet design.
All in all, the Gateway SX2850-01 is the ideal desktop model for anyone who is looking for a reasonably priced, stylish and powerful PC for the home or office. Thanks to its set of powerful specs, you will be using this desktop for many years to come without worrying about it going obsolete. At the moment, this model is retailing at around $549 per set.
How to Make Money in the Ghetto Fast With No Investment
I was looking for ways to make money in my neighborhood, but all of the ideas I found online wouldn’t work where I live. I needed to know how to make money in the ghetto, not in rich neighborhoods where you can find people who will pay you $20 an hour to walk their dogs!
Finally I realized that no matter how much research I did I wasn’t going to find anything. It was up to me to figure it out. After taking a look around, I realized there were ways to make money all around – even in the ghetto.
The first thing I realized is that even people who don’t have a ton of money are willing to invest in their kids’ futures. Obviously the poorer neighborhoods have worse schools than the more affluent ones so my first course of action was to offer tutoring services to people’s kids. I knew I couldn’t charge a ton but found that if I got a group or 4 or 5 kids and tutored them together, I could make quite a bit of money while staying within their parents budget.
While I was doing this tutoring I realized there were a ton of kids who had no where to go after school and ended up wandering the neighborhoods getting into trouble just because their parents couldn’t afford after school care. While my goal was to make money I realized that I could help them out and make a fortune at the same time. By watching up to 10 kids at once I was able to make $50 an hour and still have their parents afford my services. Even in the ghetto you can find ways to make money fast. The idea is to charge little money for services you can perform simultaneously.